Okinawan scripts

The modern conventional ad hoc spellings found in Okinawa.

The system devised by the Council for the Dissemination of Okinawan Dialect (沖縄方言普及協議会). [1]

This system was devised by Okinawa Center of Language Study, a section of University of the Ryukyus. Unlike others, this method is intended purely as a phonetic guidance, and basically only uses katakana. For the sake of an easier comparison, corresponding hiragana are used in this article.

新沖縄文字 (Shin Okinawa-moji), devised by Yoshiaki Funazu (船津好明, Funazu Yoshiaki), in his textbook Utsukushii Okinawa no Hōgen (美しい沖縄の方言; "The beautiful Okinawan Dialect"; ISBN 4-905784-19-0). The rule applies to hiragana only. Katakana is used as in Japanese; just like in the conventional usage of Okinawan.

		i	u	e	o	ya	yu	yo
(Initial) 1		[i] [ji]	[u] [wu]	[e] [je]	[o] [wo]	[ja]	[ju]	[jo]
(Elsewhere)		(Not used) 2
Conventional		い　 いぃ	う うぅ　 をぅ	え いぇ	お を うぉ	や	ゆ	よ
Council		ゆぃ	をぅ	ゆぇ	を
Ryukyu Univ.		ゐ		え
New Okinawan		い゙		え゙
'	'a a	'i i	'u u	'e e	'o o	'ya	'yu	'yo
(Initial) 1	[ʔa]	[ʔi]	[ʔu]	[ʔe]	[ʔo]	[ʔja]	[ʔju]	[ʔjo]
(Elsewhere)	[a]	[i] [ji]	[u] [wu]	[e] [je]	[o] [wo]
Conventional	あ	い	う	え いぇ	お うぉ	や	ゆ	よ
Council				え	お	っや	っゆ	っよ
Ryukyu Univ.				いぇ		いゃ	いゅ	いょ
New Okinawan				え
k	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko	kya
	[ka]	[ki]	[ku]	[ke]	[ko]	[kja]
	か	き	く	け	こ	きゃ
g	ga	gi	gu	ge	go	gya
	[ɡa]	[ɡi]	[ɡu]	[ɡe]	[ɡo]	[ɡja]
	が	ぎ	ぐ	げ	ご	ぎゃ
s	sa	si (s-i)	su	(sye) se	so	sya	syu
	[sa]	[ʃi]	[su]	[ʃe]	[so]	[ʃa]	[ʃu]
Others	さ	し	す	しぇ	そ	しゃ	しゅ
Ryukyu Univ.		し すぃ		しぇ せ
t	ta	ti	tu	te	to
	[ta]	[ti]	[tu]	[te]	[to]
Others	た	てぃ	とぅ	て	と
New Okinawan
d	da	di	du	de	do
	[da]	[di]	[du]	[de]	[do]
Others	だ	でぃ	どぅ	で	ど
New Okinawan
ts		tsi	tsu
		[tsi] [tʂi]	[tsu]
Ryukyu Univ.		つぃ	つ
z	za	zi (dzi)	zu (dzu)	ze	zo
	[dza]	[dzi] [dʐi]	[dzu]	[dze]	[dzo]
Others	ざ	じ	ず	ぜ	ぞ
Ryukyu Univ.		づぃ	ず づ
ty c	tya ca	tyi ci	tyu cu	tye ce	tyo co
	[tʃa]	[tʃi]	[tʃu]	[tʃe]	[tʃo]
	ちゃ	ち	ちゅ	ちぇ	ちょ
zy dy	zya dya	zyi dyi	zyu dyu	zye dye	zyo dyo
	[dʒa]	[dʒi]	[dʒu]	[dʒe]	[dʒo]
Others	じゃ	じ	じゅ	じぇ	じょ
Ryukyu Univ.	じゃ ぢゃ	じ ぢ	じゅ ぢゅ	じぇ ぢぇ	じょ ぢょ
n	na	ni	nu	ne	no	nya	nyu
	[na]	[ɲi]	[nu]	[ne]	[no]	[ɲa]	[ɲu]
	な	に	ぬ	ね	の	にゃ	にゅ
h	ha	hi	hu hwu	he	ho	hya	hyu	hyo
	[ha]	[çi]	[ɸu]	[çe]	[ho]	[ça]	[çu]	[ço]
	は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ	ひゃ	ひゅ	ひょ
b	ba	bi	bu	be	bo	bya	byu	byo
	[ba]	[bi]	[bu]	[be]	[bo]	[bja]	[bju]	[bjo]
	ば	び	ぶ	べ	ぼ	びゃ	びゅ	びょ
p	pa	pi	pu	pe	po	pya	pyu
	[pa]	[pi]	[pu]	[pe]	[po]	[pja]	[pju]
	ぱ	ぴ	ぷ	ぺ	ぽ	ぴゃ	ぴゅ
m	ma	mi	mu	me	mo	mya	myu	myo
	[ma]	[mi]	[mu]	[me]	[mo]	[mja]	[mju]	[mjo]
	ま	み	む	め	も	みゃ	みゅ	みょ
r	ra	ri	ru	re	ro
	[ɾa]	[ɾi]	[ɾu]	[ɾe]	[ɾo]
	ら	り	る	れ	ろ

¹: At the beginning of a word.

²: University of the Ryukyus system is an exception, always using ゐ, をぅ, え, を (ヰ, ヲゥ, エ, ヲ) for [i], [u], [e], [o], and い, う, いぇ, お (イ, ウ, イェ, オ) for [ʔi], [ʔu], [ʔe], [ʔo], respectively.

	n 3	4	5
	ん	っ	ー
'	'n
Conventional	ん
Council	っん
Ryukyu Univ.
New Okinawan

³: Hatsuon (moraic n)

⁴: Sokuon (geminated consonants)

⁵: Chōon (longer vowels): In conventional usages, longer vowels are sometimes spelled like in mainland Japanese as well; "ou" (おう) for ō, doubled kana for others. (e.g. うう for ū.)

• 沖縄県における「しまくとぅば」の表記について (Trans.: About the notation of "Shimakutuba" in Okinawa Prefecture), March 2020. Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Okinawa Prefecture.